Ayala Serfaty, Trust, 2008. Glass filaments, polymer web, lighting components. photo: albi serfaty
There was no opening reception to mark the debut of “Playing with Fire,” but the new exhibition on the third floor of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City opened with a curatorial bang, an impressively diverse exhibition paying homage to the 50th anniversary of the Studio Glass movement by broadening its traditional definition to include a wide range of art, design and installation. Curated by MAD associate curator Jennifer Scanlan, the show includes 100 works from the museum’s permanent collection as well as select loans from glass collectors. The work is diverse, and includes installations by designers Ettore Sottsass and Ayala Serfaty, an art photograph of glass and figures by Sandy Skoglund, as well as work in glass by multi-media artists James Turrell and sculptor Donald Lipski.
Clifford Rainey, War Boy – Job No. 1, 2006. Glass, inert ammunition, iron wire, oxides, pins, maple plinth. photo: lee fatherree
“As a sculptural material, glass has unique properties: its ability to hold, emit, and reflect light renders color more brilliant and animates figures and forms,”curator Scanlan wrote in an announcement of yesterday’s official opening. “In ‘Playing With Fire,’ we wanted to show how artists and designers play with the properties of this fluid medium—often in extraordinary, and sometimes unexpected ways.”
Walter Zimmerman,704/4GI, 2000. Blown glass and mixed media. H 84, W 60, D 29 in. photo: geoff isles
Scanlan organized the works into two thematic categories: Color and Light as well as Form and Content. There are interesting correspondence between works such as Clifford Rainey’s War Boy, featuring a young male sutured torso, ripping open to reveal armaments; and Walter Zimmerman’s malevolent 2001 work entitled 704/4GI, which features blown glass elements spread about like entrails.
Other work in the exhibition is less visceral, such as Howard Ben Tre’s 1985 work entitled Column 22, a monumental cast glass and copper work that announces itself with impressive confidence and authority. Other works, such as Dante Marioni’s Orange High Neck Vase with Blue Outline (1993) is an equally impressive statement of scale, though it speaks through its technical mastery of traditional techniques and represents precision on a heroic scale.
Two related events have been scheduled. On December 13th, 2012, Scanlan will lead a special tour of the exhibition “Playing with Fire: 50 Years of Contemporary Glass” at 6:30 pm; and on March 9th, 2013, at 3 PM, there will be a screening of the documentary film The Toledo Workshop Revisted (1962 – 2012) that examines an artist residency connecting three contemporary glass artists with the workshop that launched the Studio Glass movement in 1062.
“Playing with Fire: 50 Years of Contemporary Glass”
Website: www.madmuseum.org